The talk is titled 21st Century
Enlightenment because it is just that, a movement of the 21st
century that is needed much like prior enlightenments. In Matthew Taylor’s
presentation he indicates that in the 21st century we are facing new
challenges due to our fast technological reformation and advancements. These
advancements are not slowing down anytime and we need to reshape the way in
which we process new information and decide the outcomes. Globally we are more
capable of being able to understand one another better then ever before;
however with this opportunity we have failed to make better decisions. He
explains “The 21st-century enlightenment should involve a more
self-aware socially embedded model of autonomy… by understanding that our
conscious thought is only a part of what drives our behavior that we can become
better able to exercise self-control” (Taylor, (2010). What this means to me is
that we need to reshape and change our habits to become more self-aware of our
modern values, and reshape them to apply to long-term decision-making.
With the growing concern for major global
issues like climate control, education, and health care we are making slow
strides at resolving these issues. Instead of trying to focus on a solution we
find ways to smooth over the surface by pretending to address them with
politician’s claims of what will come if they are elected, but then there’s no
follow through once in office. It is time to start thinking holistically
instead of individually. We must stop thinking about changing the world for the
better and actually start changing the world. We must surround ourselves with
compassion and love for others and leave future generations with the same
ideals and values. In 17th and 18th century enlightenments,
societies were challenging ideas of irrationalities and tradition in order to
become more self-aware of what is true and what isn’t (Taylor, (2010). As we
become more advanced we are also becoming more detached from one another and we
are used to instant gratification. It is time to again challenge our
traditional outdated beliefs to become a more empathetic civilization.
In the presentation he states, "to live differently, you have to
think differently" (Taylor, (2010). I believe Taylor means that we need to start seeing ourselves differently
in order to better understand ourselves. Generally we fail to recognize
ourselves or understand why we do what we do because we react to these issues.
We make “autonomous decisions without making any conscious thoughts” (Taylor, (2010).
We need to become more proactive instead of reactive. Taylor is asking us to
begin seeing ourselves from a new perspective one of which we connect our conscious
thought with our autonomy. Recognizing our values and how they have become
valuable is the start in developing better habits. In the previous
enlightenments Taylor talks about how theorist used science to define the laws
of nature that contradicted religious and intuitions at the time. They
critically examined values and beliefs to make breakthroughs that have led us
to where we are today.
We need to go back to the days of challenging
what is prescribed as true to examine it from a modern perspective. To begin we
have to examine our values and what they mean to us. He then goes on to explain
to become happier you must surround yourself with happier friends because this
behavior will transcend through you and everyone surrounding creating a culture
of happy people. We reshape our behaviors and norms by making the decision to
change, and it is apparent we are slowing down on bettering civilization when
we are speeding up technological advancements. We cannot forget about humanity
and the need to be a culture of compassion and ethical values. We need to stop
responding automatically and put some thought into our decisions so that we can
make good conscious decisions that are “self-aware and socially embedded”
(Taylor, (2010).
In the video Taylor argues that we need "to
resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and
wrong or false that which is only strange" (Taylor, (2010). What this
means is to begin questioning our values and normal behaviors to determine how
they became values. Did one person determine them, or was it a collective
diverse thought? Those who walked before us and participated in the previous enlightenments
did just that. They question religious beliefs, superstitions and intuitions that
were not based on factual evidence. In the process they realized what was
thought was not actually true. Taylor uses an example that we once thought the
sun went around the earth; however through science we have now discovered this
was false. These are the instances that have better developed our civilization.
With our opportunities we have with technology we are inventing and making vast
discoveries at a record pace, but somehow we have failed to become empathetic
to other civilizations that we are not in direct contact with. We are able to
see the world as it truly is, and it appears that we have become detached or
desensitized to the issues because of the way we think. What Taylor is asking
is for us to start questioning what is normal and determined for us and make
well thought out decisions.
Becoming more socially aware and empathetic
takes more then just knowing what is going on, we need to start making attempts
to change it. When applying this to my personal life I believe an example would
be to be a good mom. It is assumed by many that you have to stay home with your
child because being a working mom you are putting your wants before your
child’s needs. The reason I feel this is a similar instance is because I
challenge these opinions by advising that in order to better my child’s life I
must work and continue to educate myself so that I can help her develop into a
successful adult. I have many critics in my life that give me grief about being
in school while working a full time job. They question my decisions and imply
that I am selfish; however I have to disagree. I know that although the path I
have chosen is much different then those around me it is the right path in
order to obtain my goals. I am very driven to be successful both at home and as
a mom. I must go down the road less traveled regardless of my responsibilities
as a woman. I have determined what drives my behavior is the want to learn and
do all I can with my time here on Earth; therefore I am exercising self-control
by managing my time adequately so that I can fulfill my needs. I don’t want to
just go to school, to go to school. I want to become as knowledgeable as I can
so that I can prepare my daughter and educate her. I am going to apply Taylor’s
principles to my daily life so I can become more self-aware as I am doing this.
Taylor argues that our society eschews
elements of pop culture and we degrade people. He also advises we should spend
more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens, which I believe is
possible. Pop culture gives the impression it’s a culture obsessed with material
things and a misunderstanding of what is right and what is wrong. Many people
find themselves consumed with celebrities instead of real world issues. There
is more concern with what a person is wearing and whom they are dating then a
civil war that is happening in Africa, or woman being threatened just for
wanting to go to school. These are luxuries many of us take for advantage
simply because they have always been given to us. We are very blessed and many
people fail to appreciate what they have, and become infatuated with what they
think they should have. There are so many reality shows depicting housewives,
as they appear to be not what they actually are. There is a misrepresentation
of real world issues and because of that we tend to become an ignorant culture
with values lacking morals. Ethical values need to be incorporated in our daily
decision-making, this is where becoming socially self-aware applies. We need to
put more focus on getting these women in school and helping to end civil wars.
If we can become more empathetic we will be more engaged and connected to make
this world a better place. This is a very complex chaotic environment, but
within the chaos comes order and from order comes new values.
At the end of the video, Taylor talks about
atomizing people from collaborative environments and the destructive effect on
their growth. The implication of these comments for organizational change
efforts is that we “should never doubt that a small amount of people could be
the change” (Taylor, (2010). Meaning in order to begin becoming a more
empathetic culture we need to become individually empathetic and as this
behavior is recognized and learned we will start training others to act this
way. We need to start making these changes sooner then later because we are
already 13 years into this millennium and it is evident we are a socially
unattached population. The more we fail to recognize the need to step up and
play a role to better our world the more damage is done. There should be more
emphasis on following ethical guidelines versus simply rules put in place. If
something is wrong then something should be done about it.
What I am going to take away from this exercise to
immediately use in my career is when making decisions I am going become more
socially aware of the how the outcome will affect others involved. I am a part
of a small team so when disagreements occur there is usually a lot of
unnecessary consequences that follow. For example two members got into a
dispute and because of the way they handled the situation we all paid the
consequences, which trickled down into a decrease in productivity and workload
increased. We are a self-managed team so these unnecessary issues demand our
manager to spend more time micro managing us. I believe that if we can better
handle the issue once it arises we can become more concerned with our fellow
teammates. I care more about keeping them from experiencing the backlash of a
dispute if it could be resolved more civilly.
References
Taylor, M. (2010). The 21st Century
Enlightenment. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=youtu.be
Taylor, M. (2010, Jun 21). The 21st-century
enlightenment. New Statesman, 139, 20-23. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/734024297?accountid=27203
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